Environment and natural resources
Climate change
Rains quell fire risk around Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, but the future looks fiery
The roots of the forests surrounding Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake spend half the year submerged in water. But in the past five years, they’ve been catching fire in the arid heat of the dry season. The government has rolled out plans to respond to these ...
Danielle Keeton-Olsen
US pledges assistance for Vietnam’s climate change adaptation
Receiving visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Boston on May 14 (local time), Kerry expressed his impression of Vietnam’s COP26 commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, as well its approach to energy transformation and climate change response. He assured Chinh ...
Agriculture Ministry issues water plan as rainy season looms
Farmers should also store as much rainwater as possible and use it efficiently, said Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Sree-on on Monday. “We cannot tell how many storms will hit Thailand this year, but we have ordered RID to prepare personnel and drainage equipment to deal with upcoming ...
The Nation
Rice and the Climate Crisis: Thai rice farmers struggle against climate-driven challenges
It has been another difficult harvest for Manas Takfaeng. This farmer has seen plenty of seasons in his years in the fields. But now as his retirement looms closer, watching another crop suffer is hard to comprehend. The 67-year-old is an ordinary small-hold rice grower whose family ...
Jack Board
Mechanical eyes are ready to watch Southeast Asia’s weather systems
A fleet of unmanned surface vessels numbering in the hundreds could be a key tool in helping Southeast Asia countries adapt and prepare for an increase in the frequency of severe weather. Oceanographer Ruth Patterson of Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia, believes unmanned surface vessels ...
TROY KIPPEN
Floods cause mass buffalo starvation at Thale Noi park in southern Thailand
More than 200 dead water buffaloes have been found floating today at the Thale Noi Waterfowl Park in the southern Thai province of Pattalung. Prolonged flooding in the region had destroyed the grasses that the buffalo rely on for food. Without it, they starved to ...
Petch Petpailin
Death of last river dolphin in Laos rings alarm bells for Mekong population
Known only by his identity code, ID#35 was the last individual of a doomed subpopulation of freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris). He was the sole occupant of a deep pool in the Mekong River that spans the border between Cambodia and Laos, and fought for ...
Carolyn Cowan on
Developing a Freshwater Health Index: Encompassing Earth Data, Community Concerns, and Climate Change
Earth’s climate is changing, and one of the main impacts is on the water cycle. For example, there is an elevated risk of more frequent and intense flooding and droughts. Also, the amount of water flowing in individual streams and rivers is changing, and those ...
Earth Science Communications Team at NASA
Agriculture development in Mekong Delta must adapt to climate change: Vietnam PM
Agricultural development in the Mekong Delta region must adapt to climate change and be in close connection with the growth of industry and services, said Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính. He made the statement while chairing a meeting jointly held in the Mekong Delta’s Kiên Giang ...
Viet Nam News
Building Resilience across Southeast Asia
Climate change and myths about natural disasters Because we are powerless to prevent natural disasters from occurring, catastrophes become extraordinary experiences that must be learned, understood, and lived with as a normal part of daily life. When calamities strike, there is a chance of injury, death, crop ...
Wanwalee Inpin